Friday, February 28, 2014

Looking back: My first history essay ever. Almost five years ago now, it was written in 2009.

             There were many things that led to the civil war.  So for the civil war not to happen at all or been avoided, these things would not have to happen either. So in my opinion it is not possible the civil war could have been avoided. Some of these reasons the civil war happened are economic differences, states vs. federal rights, the election of Abraham Lincoln, and slavery.
                 The first cause I want to talk about for the disturbances between the north and the south was their economic differences. It was a huge problem for many different reasons; the north was basing their life on industry and the growth of technology while the south was still basing their living on agriculture content with the way things were. The north was advancing at a rapid pace and in a way leaving the south behind to pick cotton. And that is exactly what they did; the cotton gin was invented and it made it easier to pick cotton in turn giving the south another reason to keep slaves and so the south became a one crop economy.
        Another issue was states vs. federal rights. When America began they had the articles of the confederation which resulted in a lot of states that were neighbors but nothing more because the federal government was so weak it had no power over its people. They were disconnected from one another and that’s how some of them liked it, but when it came to trying to unite the two sides it was near impossible to do so. Then the constitution gave the federal government more control and some states just sat the idea out because they didn’t want to be controlled by the government which in turn resulted in the idea of nullification. States could just decide which ideas to like and which ideas not to like from the government and that resulted in a torn nation.
          There was the election of Abraham Lincoln also. This was a sort of breaking point for the nation, and even though they were already butting heads some southern states believed that Lincoln was anti-slavery and in favor of the north before he even became president; seven states had already succeeded when he went into office.
            Slavery is usually the only thing people can come up with when they are asked what started the civil war.  Slavery was a huge part of the disagreements between the north and the south but it wasn’t the only reason. Also during this time there was a growth of the abolitionist movement and that helped push the two sides over the edge about slavery. One of the largest reasons slavery become an issue was because America began to expand the north and the south due to the Louisiana purchase as well as general movement westward; they began to disagree on which states became slave states and which states became free states. A few acts were devised to help the process along and they were the Missouri compromise, and the compromise of 1850. Acts were thought up and shot down and passed through which only made the tensions worse.
            The previous paragraphs are reasons why the civil war happened, so now I can talk about how it may have been possible in some way that it may have been avoided and how different today would be. First off the main thing we lost in the civil war was life and property; the list of casualties was about 620,000. With Sherman’s march to the sea in mind, entire plantations, even cities were burned to the ground. So for starters, that wouldn’t have happened and brothers and fathers, even mothers would still be alive. Honestly what the south should have done was in the early 1850’s was just realize that slavery was a dying work form, and just release them. They could have gotten by with a third less slaves anyways, and they could have found another way, like I don’t know..paid labor. In regards to the political struggle between the two sides it would have been almost impossible to prevent a fight.

            There were many reasons for the disagreements from the north and the south and eventually those disagreements went so far that the civil war came to pass. In my opinion it could have never been prevented and honestly it needed to happen to reunite the United States.



How has your writing changed?